Mid Dorset & North Poole.

Mid Dorset and North Poole is a seat of small towns rather than one dominant centre, between the Poole conurbation and rural east Dorset. Its largest built-up areas are the Poole fringe, Wimborne Minster, Corfe Mullen, Upton, Merley and the market town of Wareham, none holding much above a quarter of the population. The electorate is older than the national figure, with a median age of 48. Local services fall to two unitary authorities: Dorset Council, covering six rural and small-town wards, and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, covering three wards on the conurbation's edge.

That two-council geography sits beneath a clear local pattern. Across the twenty most recent ward contests, in 2023 and 2024, the Liberal Democrats took every one, often on large shares. The parliamentary picture moved in step. At the 2024 general election the Liberal Democrats won on 43.3 per cent, with the Conservatives close behind on 40.6 -- a margin of fewer than three points, and a sharp reversal of the Conservatives' commanding 2019 lead. Vikki Slade has held the seat for the party since, with no whipped dissent in recent months.

On the figures available, the direction of travel runs plainly towards the Liberal Democrats, though the narrow general-election margin leaves the seat more contested than the ward sweep alone suggests. Recent local coverage has had a markedly administrative character, dominated by council services, budget-setting under Liberal Democrat-led authorities and a year of cultural events in Wimborne, not national controversy. The seat has shifted decisively since 2024, but its slim winning margin keeps it firmly in play.